Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Now that my health is better, time to deal with some unfinished business.

I just had a TELCON with the case officer for my passport application from last year. In it, he stated that for me to remain married and be recognised as female would contravene the Marriage Act.

I remonstrated, quoting the Re Kevin decisions by the full bench of the Family Court, the letter from the Attorney-General, the Hon Phillip Ruddock, and Mr Ruddock's numerous speeches on the subject to the contrary. The APO may not be lawyers, but they have a copy of the letter.

I informed him that according to the Australian Passports determination 2007(4), someone's sex is determined by their Australian Birth certificate (if born in Australia), or, if born overseas, the records held by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC - formerly DIMIA).

As was reported:

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the purpose of the amendment was to "strengthen the integrity and security of Australian passports", arguing that only the State and Territory Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship have the legislated power to amend records when people have satisfied their requirements to record a change of gender.

As I was female according to DIAC... whereupon he interrupted, saying that if I was married, I couldn't be. I then told him that I was, and that there was no requirement for the person to be unmarried, they merely had to show adequate medical evidence.

He then spent some time looking up the regulations. And found out that indeed, there was no requirement to be unmarried. He was also unaware that my gender had been changed by Immigration, he thought that was impossible. (So my bet is that they didn't bother checking...)

I then emphasised that this state of affairs hadn't changed since my last application. That I was legally female then, and am legally female now. I asked what legislative basis the APO had for demanding that I divorce before a passport would be issued.

He said "when you put it that way..." and advised me to re-apply. A refund cheque will also be sent to me, as should have happened almost a year ago.

I may not win. But if not, it's straight to the AAT - Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Come to think of it, I'm going to write a letter asking for the legislative basis for them denying me a passport last year, when they knew, or ought to have known, that Immigration had changed my details.

Of course if I do win, then those Australian TS women born here might have a very good case for a complaint of discrimination. That those born outside the country are allowed to be unmarried, while those born inside are not. This might help them.

About Me

Actually, I am a Rocket Scientist.
Also hormonally odd (my blood has 46xy chromosomes anyway) and for most of my life, I looked male, and lived as one, trying to be the best Man a Gal could be. Anyway, in May 2005 that started changing naturally for reasons still unclear, and I'm now Zoe, not Alan : happier and more relaxed not to have to pretend any more.
UPDATE - reason now identified as the 3BHSD form of CAH.

Reviews

This blog, written by a rocket scientist, is a fascinating collection of information, both personal and scientific, regarding intersex, transsexualism and related psychosocial and psychosexual issues....It is erudite and heartfelt. Just read the posts about the passport issue. You won't know whether to laugh, weep or crawl into a ball and rock gently in a corner - an amazing person.- David---The reason I so appreciate bright, perceptive people - as opposed to ideologues whose intelligence does little to illuminate - is that they manage to both instruct and learn with a certain grace. Among such rarities in the transblogosphere is Zoe, whose direct speech and clear humanity always make her worth reading, even if one doesn’t always agree with her every conclusion.- Val---The following is a request for permission to archive your A.E.Brain blog site which we have wanted to do for several years...The Library has traditionally collected items in print, but it is also committed to preserving electronic publications of lasting cultural value....Since (1996) we have been identifying online publications and archiving those that we consider have national significance....We would like to include A.E.Brain blog site in the PANDORA Archive...-Australian National Library